About Me

I have spent the last 18 years learing how to fail.  While surviving this ordeal, I have become somewhat of an expert in operational measurement & organizational leadership. I'm current researching a book about the dangers faced by respectable technicians working under the artificial pressures propagated through the "Leadership Epidemic".

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Feel free to e-mail me at jwmckenna@90clicks.com

The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

In The Goal, Goldratt provides a compelling story that challenges the way we look at business.  His analysis distills the work of any factory into three measurable parts: Inventory, Overhead and Throughput. The ideas Goldratt presents at first ap...

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

While I was working on this lens, I wanted to share one quick thought about Dr Peck. When the TimesOnLine ran an article, "Gin, Cigarettes, Women: I'm a Prophet Not a Saint" about Dr M. Scott Peck's life, they d...

The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris

Okay...  The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris is an interesting clutch of ideas and advice guaranteed to create either vivid nightmares of the declining days of Rome, i.e. the days of Bread and...

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics is a business masterpiece.  Hazlitt begins his argument with a simple premise, the effects of a broken window.  By expanding upon the impact of the broken wi...

New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought by Todd G. Buchholz

Lately, it seems I have had a penchant for old books on economics. New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought by Todd G. Buchholz is the latest “old” book I’ve recently had the pleasure of reviewing.&...

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheelan

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheelan is a must read for anyone interested in the inner workings of economics.  Wheelan’s easy-to-read gem rescues the lay-economist from the drudgery of traditional economics tex...

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

I really like Mr. Gladwell.  He is such a polite and articulate man.  I have read nearly everything he has written and I love to listen to him speak.  Unlike many writers, Malcolm Gladwell’s voice is his writer’s voice, a w...

Freakonomics by Levitt and Dunber

You could easily dismiss Freakonomics as just another interesting but unimportant or worse yet unremarkable book filled with pop-economic observations by a media-popular economist and writer with little more to offer than a pedigreed PhD and an irres...

Tera Incognita: Travels in Antarctica by Sara Wheeler

How can you not love a book about a woman travel/adventure writer who gets a grant to spend a summer in Antarctica only to find that she is addicted to the stark frozen whiteness of and warm people working on the frozen continent?  I find this ty...

Great Ideas of Operations Research by Jagjit Singh

This little-know book, first published in 1968, holds a wealth of ideas and information about building models to better understand what's going on in your organization.  While only 221 pages long, the book manages to provide an introduction to s...

Stumbling On Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

I saw Daniel Gilbert on the Colbert Report talking about his book, Stumbling on Happiness.  If you've not seen a Colbert Report interview, Professor Gilbert's accomplishment will be lost on you.  Suffice it to say, Stephen Colbert inte...

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

I'm still working on this...  I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  If you want to share your thoughts on "Sticky-Ness" post an entry in the Guest Book at the bottom of the page. In the mean time check out Cam Beck's review an...

The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit by Seth Godin

I'm still working on this... I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  If you want to share your thoughts on "The Dip" post an entry in the Guest Book at the bottom of the page. While you're waiting for my review, check out Seth Godin'...

Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life by David D. Friedman

If the name “Friedman” sounds familiar, it should; David D. Friedman is the son of renowned Nobel Economist Milton Friedman.  Like his father, David takes his economics seriously.  Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life by...

Digital Cowboy

I really haven't figured out what a Digital Cowboy is, it just struck me as a good title for a lens about coaching in the digital age. I think it came from the fact that I like cowboy boots. I thought about this some more. A Digital Cowboy has to be...

The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers by Phil Rosenzweig

I'm still working on this...  I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  If you want to share your thoughts on "The Black Swan" post an entry in the Guest Book at the bottom of the page. Take care... JWM

The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World by Bjorn Lomborg

I'm still working on The Skeptical Environmentalist.  Please check back later.  In the mean time, check out the books official web site.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Simply put, Into Thin Air is the best book I read in 1998.  Jon Krakauer is one of the best travel advenure writers alive today.  Even with big shoes like that to fill, Into Thin Air does not disappoint.  If you are an arm-chair advent...

Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming by Bjørn Lomborg

I'm still working on Cool It.  Please check back later...  In the mean time, check out the books official Web Site

A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman

I'm still working on this...  I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  If you want to share your thoughts on "A Perfect Mess" post an entry in the Guest Book at the bottom of the page. Take care... JWM

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I'm still working on this...  I'll get back to you as soon as possible.  If you want to share your thoughts on "The Black Swan" post an entry in the Guest Book at the bottom of the page. Take care... JWM

Dead Evidence

”Dead Evidence” is the information/evidence that we don't have.  It is often the missing information that had it been available during the original analysis of an event would reveal that the accepted conventional...

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin

I'm listening to Steve Martin's Born Standing Up on my iPod as I negotiate the 28 Km of German back roads that lie between my home and office. All I can say right now is every minute of Steve Martin's delivery reminds me of late summer nights, stayin...

1. Other Great Books

This is a lens of Plexos that help me keep track of my shared data like books for my book review lenses.  Please let me know if you have a better way to keep track of these things. Take care... John